A statistical or probability distribution describes the "shape" of probable values of a specific [[random variable]]. For example a Bernoulli random variable has a Bernoulli distribution. Known distributions have been well-studied by statisticians and have properties that can be looked up in tables, such as their [[expectation]] and [[variance]].
## Common Distributions
- [[Bernoulli distribution]]
- 1 trial with success $p$
- [[Binomial distribution]]
- $n$ repeated independent Bernoulli trials
- [[geometric distribution]]
- repeated Bernoulli trials until the first success is obtained, exclusive of the success
- [[first success distribution]]
- repeated Bernoulli trials until the first success is obtained, inclusive of the success
- [[Negative Binomial distribution]]
- repeated Bernoulli trials to obtain $r$ successes
- [[uniform distribution]]
- all values equally likely
- [[normal distribution]]
- [[standard normal distribution]]
- [[Poisson distribution]]
- number of events that happen in a certain time period
- [[exponential distribution]]
- time until an event happens
- [[gamma distribution]]
- time until $k$ events happen (e.g., repeated exponential random variables)
- [[beta distribution]]
- flexible distribution with support [0, 1].